FJ noob needs help (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Threads
5
Messages
22
Location
Tennessee
I am new to the Land Cruiser family, having just received a 91 fj80 as my first car. I need some insight as I am looking to eventually add 1.5-3” of lift, front and rear bumpers and sliders and upgrade to 32s. What do I need to know before getting myself into this?
 
Last edited:
32” tires require no lift, nor do 33’s. There is a weeks worth of reading on this beaten to death subject archived here on Mud.

Welcome to Mud and your new bad habit. :D
 
I am new to the Land Cruiser family, having just received a 91 fj80 as my first car. I need some insight as I am looking to eventually add 1.5-3” of lift, front and rear bumpers and sliders and upgrade to 32s. What do I need to know before getting myself into this?
If you need to do a lift(you wil eventually) hit up @davidotero here on the forum hell walk you thru it. and welcome :steer:
 
You need to do a lot of reading on lifts, the front radius arm suspension, caster, and pinion angle. You have to make decisions according to your budget, skill, finances, and goals. These aren't easy rigs to lift due to the front suspension.

If your suspension is stock, then it's probably sagging and poorly damped. You'd probably be happy with new, stock-height suspension.
 
These rigs are super easy to lift. Caster correction is not that big a deal.
 
These rigs are super easy to lift. Caster correction is not that big a deal.

I'm going to disagree, based on the number of threads that regularly appear regarding caster correction methods, drive line vibration, and poor handling after installing lifts.
 
I'm going to disagree, based on the number of threads that regularly appear regarding caster correction methods, drive line vibration, and poor handling after installing lifts.
You can disagree, that's your right. However, this is a forum, where people go to find advice for their problems, so problems are extremely over-represented. Go lift an IFS vehicle- even a body lift- and come back and tell me the 80 is difficult to lift. Springs, shocks, caster bushings or plates- if you know what you're doing it can be done in a few hours. If you have never done it before it might take a bit longer, but it's still easy and quick compared to just about any other platform. Drive line and handling problems are the exceptions, not the rules, and most are due to maintenance issues. A moderate lift on an 80 is a very simple job, and a moderate lift is what the OP is talking about. He could probably get away with just springs and shocks.
 
Stick with a 2" lift and caster correction is most likely not needed. Wits' End sells castor correction plates for up to 2.5" lift (and ones for bigger lift).

33" tires with stock suspension is perfect.
 
@gummycarbs castor correction methods are often discussed. As are oil. As are tires. As are...

As @Spike Strip stated a person can lift an 80 in a couple of hours with little to no experience as long as they have a couple of tools.

To the OP. I purchased my Tough Dog lift from @reevesci aka Jason aka Trail Tailor. I love it and have nothing but good things to say about it. I have the 2" "light duty" springs with 41mm foam cells shocks. I've put roughly 25k miles on it in the last year and it is perfect. And you won't break the bank with it.
 
What @RFB and @Brimley said. @David Otero is really responsive and helpful. I just went with the Dobinson 2" with 315 75 16 on my 94 no corrections needed. My 97 is stock suspension with 285 75 16 and has quite a bit of clearance. Here's a pic for comparison. I hope this helps

20171018_202722.jpg
 
Last edited:
one fact you need to know about owning one is how to hide money from the family and invest in car, getting addicted, have no limit what you can bolt on to this rigs.
 
How did I get involved in this? I've never owned a 80 series ?!?

And Joey hit me in the face with a wrench once, when helping install a rear bumper, but that's the extent of my wrenching on an 80...

:hillbilly:
:cool:
:confused:
 
I'm going to disagree, based on the number of threads that regularly appear regarding caster correction methods, drive line vibration, and poor handling after installing lifts.

They can be done simply, or if that is the choice, a lot of $$$$ can be spent. Yesterday was test drive day for two "new" to the fleet rigs. They were both bought right, factory locked, but, not the prettiest girls at the dance, checkered history, no repair receipts, etc.

Standard builds, call Cruiser Outfitters, order springs and shocks, then we make the rest. In this case we had a lot going on, so also ordered plates, instead of doing washer mod. The blue one has heavy rear and J front springs, the tan has Js with 1.25" front spacers, both have L shocks. Both have craigslist 17x7.5" Toyota wheels w/ 1" spacers and 37"s, the blue has Kanati, the tan Cooper STT.

I drew the short straw, had to drive the blue one, at 262K miles, is solid, tight, goes right down the road and trail. Still has a few issues, some burned out bulbs, setting a couple of O2 sensor codes, so will swap the front one, needs an A/C compressor, slight slack throttle shaft growl, so will try changing phase. Is running slightly warmer than we would like, so before summer, will swap the relatively new copper for an aluminum radiator. Waiting on a couple of pallets from 4x4 Labs and they will be capable trail rigs, as intended.

It depends on intended use, these will never win at the show and shine, have no pedigree,, don't care. Likely are not done "right" by Mud standard,, don't care. My prediction, will see a bunch of the southwest trails, haul a bunch of tools and get a lot of work done, as intended.:hillbilly:
11-29-2017_2.jpg
 
How did I get involved in this? I've never owned a 80 series ?!?

And Joey hit me in the face with a wrench once, when helping install a rear bumper, but that's the extent of my wrenching on an 80...

:hillbilly:
:cool:
:confused:

GUILTY by association? Any Spike'll do!!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom